The Revenge
by bifflybooo
Summary: When Camelot needs to be a safe and happy place, darkness always falls over. Through enchantments and poisons what will become of Camelot?
1. The Feast

_**I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE MERLIN CHARACTERS, ONLY THE PLOT.**_

_This episode is set during series 3._

The day had arrived. Arthur sat on the golden chair decorated with sparkling jewels, engulfed with leather padding and he stared miserably out of the ornate windows. The Great Hall looked like a vast emptiness without the guards scattered around its perimeter. Uther was strolling gallantly across the width of the hall, looking troubled.

"Father what's on your mind?"

"Well... there's something I need to tell you about the next couple of days, you'll have to prepare your men and build them up to the best of their ability, am I making myself clear to you?" Uther questioned. Arthur leant forward on his chair looking curious, "Absolutely. What is the occasion?"

"My brother Alfred, Alfred Pendragon, is joining our company here in Camelot for a while. He can only have the best accommodation available and the highest safety surrounding him and I just have doubts about our level of... hospitality."

"Have no fear Father, I will do my best to arrange what I can do for you," Arthur exclaimed.

"Thank you, I will be holding a feast tonight to inform everyone of this and I need everyone to attend, so they are very aware of the situation. Please could you do this before sunset?" Uther enquired.

"Of course Sire," Arthur stood up then bowed and began to make his way towards the door.

"Oh and Arthur, please keep control of your servant... Merlon? Merlin? I heard from Gaius that he was missing last night and was thought to have been wrecking havoc in the tavern. It's things like this that I want to prevent from happening when Alfred arrives," Uther complained. Arthur face dropped, he nodded briskly and made his way back to his quarters.

* * *

Within three hours, Arthur had managed to relay the news to his trustworthy Knights and Morgana, who insisted on bringing her own drink to the feast as she had been suffering from frequent nightmares in the past week. Arthur relented and allowed her this exception.

"Just promise that you won't tell Uther of these dreams, as he will worry unnecessarily and he has much on his mind already. He doesn't need to worry about your minor illness," Arthur warned.

"You always had a loving heart didn't you Arthur? You obviously get your caring streak from your father," Morgana crooned sarcastically.

"I just meant..." The entrance of Guinevere had distracted Arthur from his flow of speech and his breathing noticeably deepened.

"Just what Arthur? I do worry about the people of Camelot when you become King, they will have someone leading them who doesn't know how to string full sentences together because he's talking like a blithering idiot." Arthur recoiled like he had taken a knife to the pit of his stomach, "I'm very sorry if I have upset you Morgana, I just wanted to let you know of the feast. Will you be there?" he asked, all the while watching Gwen out of the corner of his eye, making up Morgana's bed sheets.

"I suppose so, if that's what would make Uther happy," Morgana replied reluctantly. Arthur smiled sweetly at Morgana and swiftly left her bedchambers. Morgana watched the empty space in which Arthur had just left and a red glint sparked in her eye. The spark quickly vanished when Guinevere interrupted her track of thought by saying, "My lady I have left your medicine underneath your mirror, remember to take the amount Gaius told you. Enjoy the feast" Morgana smiled gracefully and Guinevere left the room.

When Morgana was totally sure that she was alone she glided over to her chest of drawers and pulled out an antique chalice. In the reflection of the mirror Morgana saw not her own face but the face of the beautiful Morgause and Morgana whispered, "The poison is ready, we just need Arthur, Uther and Alfred to all consume this liquid, the deed should be done midnight. Then we both can be the rightful rulers of Camelot."

Morgause's reflection smiled menacingly, like she had approved of what Morgana had said, and her face slowly disappeared from the surface of the chalice.

* * *

The entire banquet hall went silent as Uther graciously stood up, "I, King Uther, have an announcement to make."

From behind the royal banquet table Merlin and Gaius exchanged nervous looks. Whatever Uther was planning to say wasn't going to be good.  
Whenever a banquet was called, something important was to be said, only royal or high people were permitted to go to the banquet. This was the only reason in which Merlin was glad to be Arthurs servant, so he could hear about all of the problems or announcements.

"Well my older brother, Alfred, is coming to stay in Camelot," Uther bellowed, "I would like it if we could give him an excellent welcome and a memorable stay here." Merlin let out a sigh of relief - the announcement hadn't been that bad!

"When is he getting here?" asked the shaggy haired knight Gwaine, who was sitting a few seats from the king.

"Noon tomorrow. This will be the first time that Arthur's met my dear Alfred," Uther gazed fondly at his son. "But for now we are to enjoy this wonderful meal and keep ourselves happy." Cheer broke out from within the hall and everyone started devouring the mouth-watering food. Merlin and Gaius, both clapped with the other unroyal members standing around the hall and they both ceased clapping when they saw Morgana brandish a glowing object from beneath the creases in her dress and settle it underneath the table, where no one could see it. It looked dangerously alive.

As quick as anything, they saw Morgana's head quickly bow down to the table and her green eyes glowed a familiar gold colour. Magic. Merlin looked knowingly at Gaius, if Uther saw her possessing magic, goodness knows what he'd do?

When the banquet had finished Merlin and Gauis quickly exited the Great Hall and rushed to a quiet place, where no one could see or hear them. "Gaius, Morgana is up to something and I have no trouble thinking who is helping her, why was she conjuring magic that openly in the middle of the feasting hall?" Merlin asked.

"She was lucky nobody saw her and I can't say that I didn't expect this, we both expected it! I could bet anything that Morgause is behind this too!" Gaius murmured.

"If I know anything about Morgana, this is definitely something bad. We have to try and stop what she's trying to do. We just need to know what she's thinking of doing!"

"Well, Merlin, if I'm not wrong it looked like Morgana has a deadly possession in her hands - poison!"

**A/N: Is the first chapter good? Any suggestions for improvement? Comment opinions, it would be very much appreciated. Thank you! **


	2. The Distraction

**A/N: Here's Chapter Two! Enjoy! **

Merlin still couldn't get over the fact that Morgana had gone as far as creating a poison just to get rid of Uther, or the grand heir Arthur. It seemed like only weeks ago, they were all living in peaceful happiness, but somewhere along the way something had gone wrong. Merlin and Gaius were the only two who knew that Morgana was putting up a happy front for the people of Camelot but behind closed doors, she had made the ultimate betrayal.

Upon re-entering the banquet hall, Merlin's automatically scanned for Morgana to make sure she hadn't already started pursuing Arthur with the poisoned chalice. When Morgana had been spotted at her table, chatting merrily to the Knights and Lords, Merlin realised that there was not one chalice next to Morgana but three. Merlin's eyes widened in disbelief, all three chalices looked similar, and how was he to know which one contained the poison? Gaius was stood behind Merlin oblivious to the problem at hand, "Gaius, something's wrong!"

"Well, it can't be worse than poison being at the hands of Morgana?" Gaius looked sceptical and Merlin scoffed loudly, which gained them a couple of annoyed glances from the lords and ladies enjoying their delectable meals. Merlin and Gaius quickly located themselves in the corner of the hall, "I think this could be worse – a lot worse."

Gaius took a deep breath and leant closer to Merlin, "What is it?" Merlin looked back towards Morgana's table and began, "Morgana had the poison in one chalice before we left the room, now we've come back inside the hall there are now three chalices in front of her on the table. And I for one have no idea which one contains the poison." Gaius looked truly baffled.

"Well Merlin we've got to do our best from preventing _anyone _from consuming any liquid from either chalice." Merlin nodded sharply , "How do that?"

Gaius took a moment to ponder on that thought, "Make a diversion. Give everyone a reason to have to leave this hall, so then we can discard of the three chalices. Just think of something, do it now, go..." Gaius then briefly started walking back towards the tables to offer anybody a drink and left Merlin stuck with no idea how to create a diversion.

"Merlin, please stop standing there like an idiot, you're making the place look untidy," Arthur blurted, he had begun to make his way over from one of the tables when he had noticed Merlin standing in the corner of the hall, doing nothing and looking nonplussed. "Sorry sire, I just... need to go and do something," Merlin quickly rushed away from Arthur, out of the bustling hall, without waiting to hear Arthur's reply – it probably wouldn't have been good anyway.

Come on Merlin think, think, he thought to himself whilst pacing up and down the darkened corridor. A door slamming snapped Merlin's attention and with that a great idea popped into his head. Someone was walking down the corridor further around the other side of the building and would soon turn the corner and see Merlin standing there, he quickly ran inside one of the nearest rooms. Whilst hiding behind the door he made sure the stranger wouldn't notice him and he also tried to plan his spare of the moment idea. The footsteps slowly clicked closer and closer and until they passed and sounded like a hollow echo. Merlin left the room and began walking back to the hall, he just hoped his idea would work.

* * *

Gaius was offering the knights some wine and beer and every so often keeping his eye on the door of which Merlin had left a while ago, waiting for him to re-appear. It had been several minutes and still Merlin had not returned, who knew how long they had before Morgana would waltz over to the high table and offer Uther or Arthur a lovely drink, which could just happen to be poison. They couldn't waste anymore time, they needed to get rid of the poison – and quickly. Several more agonizing but painless moments passed until the muffled grumbling could be heard outside of the glass windows, it got louder and louder transforming into a roar meanwhile gaining the attention of everyone in the hall. The people in the hall looked uncertainly at Uther as if he'd have an explanation for these strange occurrences. Uther just seemed just as confused as everyone else. Gaius hoped that this was the work of Merlin. The deafening roar died down suddenly and all that was left was a tense silence. Everyone exchanged nervous glances. The silence still lingered like a disease.

It seemed to happen out of nowhere. The glass windows shattered and blew inside the hall, shattering into millions of tiny pieces, forming a treacherous blanket over the feast. The women screamed simultaneously and the men cowered in the seats. The monster that had smashed the windows roared aggressively and the sound diminished slowly, as if the monster was retreating from the castle. Uther stood up among the screaming crowd and bellowed, "Everyone calm down and please," women were screaming about how they didn't want to die, "just PLEASE BE QUIET!" The hall fell into silence and Uther shut his eyes to regain his posture. "I need everyone to leave the hall; safely and with order and we can find out what has actually happened." Everyone stood up all at once and began to noisily filter out of the hall. Now this is the exact moment that Gaius thought it appropriate to try and capture the deadly poison. Against the flow of people, Gaius began surging through to try and reach where Morgana had been sitting. Glass shards stabbed into the soles of his feet, but he barely noticed, he was too focussed on trying to retrieve the poison. On reaching the table, it didn't display any chalices or empty cups and Gaius' heart dropped into his stomach. Had the deed already been done? He desperately looked around panicking, hoping to find Merlin strolling up to him and producing the chalices. He didn't. Gaius slumped his shoulders and gave into defeat. His chambers seemed like the safest place to be right now and so he trailed off.

* * *

Merlin burst through the door, "Did you get the poison?" and hurried over to Gaius sitting hunched at his desk.

"No, I didn't. I was too late. They were gone before I got there." Merlin retracted from the desk, "No Gaius, it's not too late." Then he bounced off back out of the door, "Merlin where are you going?" The question was answered by nobody.

* * *

The outside of Morgana's chambers looked uninviting but Merlin knew that he had to do this. The sharp knocks on the door. The echo's rebounding and almost trying to budge Merlin away. The door creaked open and Morgana's face appeared in the slit. Once she realised it was Merlin, she opened the door wider, "Merlin? To what do I owe this pleasure?" she smiled sweetly.

Merlin vowed not to fall for her obvious beauty and shook the idea out of his head, "Gaius has asked me to come and ask you about your night drafts. Can I come in?" Morgana nodded and gestured for Merlin to step into the room. "Are you still taking them Morgana or have the nightmares gone?"

Morgana eyed Merlin suspiciously, "The nightmares are still vivid and they interrogate me."

Merlin was just improvising on the spot but he refused to lose this game, "Oh that makes sense," Merlin comically tapped his head, "Gaius gave you quite a weak draft before, I just need to see the draft to confirm that it is the weak one, so then we can give you a stronger, more effective one."

Morgana nodded and walked over to her side room, once she had disappeared from sight he tried to look for something that would lock her in the side room, or even in her actually chambers. Then a gold shimmering item, stole his attention. The chalice. Merlin beamed with delight and strode over to the dresser on which the chalice stood. He stared at the purple substance and went to touch the surface of it.

"Merlin, I have the," Morgana stopped speaking as soon as she noticed that Merlin had noticed the chalice, Merlin turned his back on the chalice at the sound of Morgana's voice and looked very guilty. "I have the draft here." Morgana's eyes had turned cold and she eyed Merlin with distaste. The look lasted for no longer than three seconds and was replaced with a sly smile. "See Merlin, there's this thing that I've always wondered..."  
Merlin relaxed at not getting yelled at for finding the poison and instead looked intrigued, "Wondered what?"

"Wondered about you Merlin, you see, everytime I see you, I see this fiery desire in your eyes, who is the cause of this?" Morgana asked. Merlin blushed; this was definitely not the direction he wanted the conversation going in. Morgana edged slowly closer and closer to Merlin and placed her pale hand on his shoulder and closed the distance between them. Faces nearly touching, "I've always wondered who Merlin? Who catches your desire?" Morgana kissed Merlin's lips and said, "_Halrun Ethrika"_

At this point, Merlin was dazed by the kiss and didn't notice the incantation Morgana had murmered. Her eyes glistened the familiar gold colour and Merlin froze. Seconds past and Merlin came back into reality, smiling. "Morgana, I've always wondered if you knew that it was you I desire? It always has been."

Morgana laid a kiss on his cheek and turned around, an evil grin taking over her face.

**A/N: Do you think it's good so far? Got any ideas about what should happen next? Please review! Any suggestions or helpful critisicm is welcome! **


	3. The Infatuation

**A/N: Sorry it's quite a short one this week. But here it is anyway, chapter 3! Enjoy! :)**

Merlin had never felt this happy in his whole life. Once Morgana had kissed him, it seemed to rush over him all at once; he knew that her beauty was all he wanted in life. Little did he know that Morgana had just enchanted him and so he could get him to do whatever she had wanted. Merlin had always thought that Morgana was a beautiful woman but never anything more, until now. His eyes had turned to the colour of lapis lazuli and his skin glowed, "It's always been you Morgana, whom I have desired. Do you feel the same?"

Morgana smiled sweetly and cast her hands to Merlin's defined cheekbones, "Of course Merlin, now if you would be so kind to leave me in peace so I can pray for a goodnights sleep?" Merlin nodded enthusiastically, "Of course my lady," he realised he had been holding a beautiful golden chalice and couldn't exactly remember why. "Oh Merlin, you can leave that chalice here, it contains my... herbal remedy," Morgana blurted in hope that Merlin wouldn't remember that it actually contained the poison. Merlin stood silent for a couple of seconds and then placed the cup back on the dresser and smiled kindly at Morgana, "Night, m'lady." He then strode out of her chambers with a bounce in his stride. Morgana watched him leave wickedly and breathed out a sigh of relief, her enchantment had worked, Merlin was infatuated with her and he had forgotten about his main objective. She knew that he had figured out something of her plans and she couldn't let him spoil them. She had at least 24 hours before the charm began to wear off, so in that time she would have to get the poison to somebody before Merlin gained morality and realised. She knew that she's just have to stay awake tonight, she couldn't risk going to sleep and wasting time. She picked up the chalice and then walked silently out of her chambers.

* * *

Merlin burst through the door and made Gaius jump, causing him to drop a glass beaker that he'd been holding and it smashed on the floor. The shattering glass startled Merlin and the joyous grin was wiped off his face, "Merlin, you need to stop running around like a buffoon. I hope this means that you managed to extract the poison off of Morgana!"

Merlin looked deeply offended, "Don't accuse Morgana like that, how can you say something as horrible as that Gaius?" Gaius looked stunned, "Merlin what's wrong?"

Merlin sighed and slouched on the chair next to the table, "What does it mean when all you can think about is this certain person and no matter how hard you try and think of something else, that person still manages to find a way into your mind?"

Gaius looked troubled and walked over to Merlin and placed his hand on his forehead, "Merlin you're burning up. Do you feel well?"

"I just see her in my mind all the..."

"Merlin, just relax a minute and answer my question. Please don't get angry, just answer me truthfully," Gaius explained. Merlin nodded.

"Tonight you went to Morgana's chambers, didn't you?" Merlin nodded, "What were you supposed to do there?"

"Give her the sleeping draft," Merlin stated. "What else were you supposed to do Merlin?" Gaius inquired. Merlin looked confused and thoughtful but could not think of what Gaius was trying to get out of him, "Nothing else that I can remember."

Gaius looked out of the window and tried to channel calm thoughts, "Merlin you might not believe me but you have been put under a spell." Merlin narrowed his eyes at Gaius, "What?"

"I believe to think that when you went to Morgana's chambers, she put you under a spell, she enchanted you..."

"Gaius, she didn't! Morgana would never do something..."

"Merlin, listen to me!" Gaius nearly yelled and Merlin fell silent. "While you were there you were supposed to fetch the chalice, which Morgana had poisoned. The one that she was going to kill Arthur with? Do you recall that?"

Merlin looked stunned, "Why would Morgana want to poison Arthur?"

"You'd remember if you hadn't been enchanted. I suggest that you go to sleep now and hopefully by morning it should have worn off, and then we'll figure out what to do." Gaius seemed worried; he knew this was part of Morgana's plan to distract them while she could kill Arthur. Merlin dragged himself lazily up the stairs to his room. Gaius walked over to the window and looked out towards Morgana's window opposite, across the courtyard. He thought to himself of the possibility of him being able to thwart Morgana's plans, he just had to think of a way.

* * *

Arthur was just taking off his linen shirt and placing it over the room divider when Morgana walked in unexpectedly.

"Morgana, can I help you with something?"

Morgana pretended to blush, "Sorry Arthur, I should've knocked. I just wanted to see if you were alright. What with your uncle visiting tomorrow and Uther seeming really nervous about it all."

"That's very kind of you Morgana, I'm fine thank you," Arthur sighed, "the day has seemed to wear me out!" Morgana laughed in reply. "Well I thought you might appreciate a bit of a drink," Morgana smiled, and handed him the golden chalice she had been hiding behind her back.

Arthur looked surprised and flattered at the same time, "I will, thank you Morgana," he took the chalice and brought it to his lips, then dropped it to the front of his face. "Aren't you going to join me with a drink," Arthur questioned.

"Arthur, out of all people you know best that it is not good for a woman to drink in front of the presence of a man, be that her father, friend or brother," she looked knowingly at him. Arthur grunted and shrugged his shoulders. He placed the chalice out in front of him high in the air, "Well here's to happiness, prosperity and long life. Cheers."

Long life, Morgana thought to herself, how ironic?

**A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. Please review, tell me what parts you liked, what you didn't like. Follow/Favourite if you really enjoyed reading it and want to follow Merlin through this adventure.  
Thank you to my Beta - LivieQuinney - who is working on a fab Mortal Instruments fanfiction which is brilliant, go and check it out! :)**

**Thank you!, until next week...**


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